{Dairy-free} Chocolate Banana Peanut Butter Chunk Soy Ice Cream

When food allergies prevent you from enjoying the food you love and want to eat, it has the tendency to make a person sad. Being 8 years old and allergic to dairy has been a challenging journey for my daughter, Abigail, who loves pizza and ice cream but sadly can have neither. Yes, there is dairy-free cheese and ice cream available on the market but Abigail misses the taste of “real” cheese and the flavors her her favorite types of ice cream.

Fortunately for us, we have a very nice blender which can make yummy soft serve ice cream in just a couple minutes. The only problem with making ice cream this way is freezing the leftovers hoping hoping for the same creamy texture as a freshly made soft serve batch. Because I add ice cubes to the soft serve mix, when trying to freeze any leftovers, it is more icy than creamy. Recently I purchased this Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker to make creamy ice cream you can scoop. I’ve been experimenting with different flavors and proportions of cream, milk, fruit, and other mix-ins with great success. But I was asked by Abigail if we could try making dairy free ice cream we can also scoop for her to enjoy too. I asked her what flavor of ice cream she would like to have and she enthusiastically replied, “chocolate peanut butter banana.” Coincidentally, I had also just purchased agave syrup to use a sugar substitute when cooking and baking.

As a result, we made a batch of dairy-free ice cream/frozen yogurt Abigail and the whole family can enjoy. The nature of soy yogurt lends to a pleasant tanginess, the use of agave syrup adds a honey like sweetness, and the banana is a subtle complimentary flavor note in the background. Chunky peanut butter added in small chunks after all the other ingredients have been blended adds a welcomed texture addition with bits of chopped peanuts and small flavor bursts of peanut butter.

When Abigail took her first bite into this ice cream, she squealed with delight and said, “Mom, I can’t believe you did it! This ice cream is the bomb!” For today I was her hero. This ice cream made her feel extra special and if you knew her, you would know she is more than special… she is an amazing kid.

If you’ve been searching for a vegan ice cream to enjoy, I suggest this recipe. Kids and grown-ups alike will enjoy this chocolate treat any time of year. [/donotprint]

Mix all the ingredients except for the peanut butter in a blender for 30 seconds on a medium high speed. Transfer mixture to an ice cream maker. Add small gumball size chunks (approx. 1/2 teaspoon) of peanut butter to the the rest of the ice cream mixture. Churn ice cream according to the manufacture’s directions. Transfer ice cream to a freezer friendly type container with lid and freeze according to preferred firmness. Enjoy!